Do you know that old saying "can't see the forest for the trees"? This is a story kind of like that. You can see the trees but you can't see the much bigger picture unless you get really high in the sky. A viewer found it from 30-thousand feet and wondered what it is, and why it is there. The answer is the subject of this Fact Finder.
Normally when we do these Fact Finders we often find tiny little details, a couple of words in bills or contracts that make all the difference in the world. But when I pulled my car off of Raybourn Road in Kalkaska County, I knew I was looking for the largest thing I would ever find in a Fact Finder. I also knew it might be hard to find from the ground. What I was searching for was something one of our viewers had found from the skies, I had seen it from an aerial photo, but with each poking pine tree branch I was begin to realize how much easier it is to change your view on Google Earth than on planet Earth.
None the less, after a lot of bushwhacking and a few wrong turns, I eventually found a small meadow of about a dozen acres, with three distinct pine trees growths. I couldn't have been happier! From the ground they look like just about any other pine trees we all see everyday, but if you change your perspective and look down from the skies, one can clearly see that these clumps of pines set on a fern meadow backdrop actually form a giant 1, 5, and a 0. You can clearly see the outlines from 42,000 feet up.
The numbers are huge, but unless you know what you were looking for you would walk right by them. From the ground it's not really very impressive, from the sky it's nothing short of incredible. I called around to find out the story behind it. (Few people even know it exists.) I hit pay dirt when Dave Johnson a DNRE forest technician answered my call. He told me "Once in awhile we do and once in awhile we get the stray phone call, somebody flew in and what is that 150? They are always intrigued by it." It's a pretty well kept secret, but Dave Johnson with the DNRE knows all about it because he and his coworkers planted it on state land. Dave told me "In 1986 the idea came about that everybody was getting ready for the sesquicentennial in January of 87 why not dedicate a little plantation to it."
And if you're going to mark the state's 150th birthday, you want a gift that stands the test of time so according to Dave " we laid out a 150 on the ground and planted it figuring that it will be around for, well might not make 100 years, but it will make 80 years." Of course it's so noticeable from so high because it's so big. Dave says "The 150 and the opening around it are probably 10 to 12 acres. Each number is probably an acre and half to 2 acres and there is probably anywhere from 1200 to 1800 per number depending on the number."
25 years ago, a young Dave Johnson walked a former potato field with a plan and birthday wish for the state. Today, Dave's close to retirement, but his gift will keep on giving. Dave says "It will always pop up and it will be there for quite a long time so we thought that would be kind of a neat idea and so far it's worked out."
So it's very well hidden (from the ground) treasure here in Kalkaska County, but as it turns out, it's not the only one. I received this email a few days later the DNRE about a second plantation.
"The plantation in the Gwinn Unit was planted in 1987. It is a red pine plantation with tamarack planted in a 150 design in the center. There was a ceremony attended by CCC alumni and other dignitaries. The plantation is located on Co. Rd. 557 about 8.5 miles south of Gwinn or about a mile south of Bob's Creek Truck Trail and is on the east side of 557. The 150 is best view looking south and in the fall when the tamarack has turned yellow. It is Gwinn compartment 46 stand 13."
Looks like I have more bushwhacking in my future.
Do you want to check it out on Google Earth? (it's just northeast of Kalkaska on Raybourn road near the railroad tracks, around 44 46 13.83 N, 85 09 05.35 W)Have fun!
